MC Explains | How the Modi govt plans to remove toll plazas on Indian highways

The waiting time for vehicles on toll plazas has gone down substantially in the past two years. Owing to the introduction of the electronic toll collection system, FASTag, the average waiting time has come down to 47 seconds during 2021-22 from 8 minutes during 2018-19.

But congested toll plazas, especially at peak hours and on busy routes, are still a common sight. The good news is that the government is bringing in radical changes.

Speaking at an event last week, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari envisaged the introduction of an automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) system for highways in India. The proposal seeks to do away with toll plazas altogether.

What is ANPR?

An automatic number-plate recognition system is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates through a CCTV camera or a camera that is specifically designed for the purpose.

It will allow vehicle owners to pass through toll plazas without having to stop their cars.

The road use fee will be deducted directly from the owner's bank account. The fee will depend on the stretch he/she has used, which, essentially, will be tracked by the entry and exit gates on the highways.

What are the challenges?

The first and major issue is that not all number plates in India can be read by cameras, and only those that have come after 2019 will be registered by the cameras. In 2019, the government had come up with a rule, mandating vehicles to have company-fitted number plates.

The authorities are trying to devise policies to replace the older number plates. The main issue is that India will have to build an entire ecosystem that is in sync with the requirements of the ANPR camera.

The second-biggest problem, the ANPR faces issues when things are written on number plates, such as ‘govt of India/Delhi’ and names of gods, etc.

Other possible solutions?

Last month, Gadkari told Parliament: “We are in the process of introducing GPS, instead of FASTag, using satellites, on the basis of which we want to collect toll."

Along with ANPR, the government is also planning to use GPS technology as one of the options for toll collection.

For this, vehicles should mandatorily have a GPS system. The government can track the GPS coordinates of the moving vehicles and charge them according to the distance travelled on that particular highway.